midwest_170
ArboristSite Operative
This is probably not useful to some, but thought I would give my take on the wood that I've been burning this year. All of this wood was cut in January 2013 and split and stacked before April 1st. Below I've listed them in the order I would prefer them.
Hedge, burns extremely hot and my stove has no trouble holding coals for my 11 hour burn time. Ash seems to be on the lighter side. Only down fall is sparks bad when reloading stove
Honey Locust, Burns hot and long, doesn't hold coals as good as hedge, but I can just get by with an 11 hour burn time. Ash is also on the lighter side.
Mulberry, burns hot, but burns a little faster than I would like. It is the worst at holding coals, but I like to burn this when I expect my burn times to be less than 8 hours. Seems to leave a lot of ash in the stove.
Burr Oak, burn temperature is the lowest of the 4 species, holds coals better than mulberry, but not as good as hedge or locust. I can get by sometime on an 11 hours burn, but it works best with 8-10 hour burns.
I think the heat content of the Burr Oak would be better if the thick bark was removed. The wood I'm burning now about 10% of the pieces have the bark removed, seems like you can get more solid wood in the stove without that thick bark on it. The locust I'm working with doesn't have thorns or very few if they do so no trouble working with it. I used a hydraulic log splitter and splitting the hedge can take longer because it requires you to run the splitter the full length a lot of the time.
Hedge, burns extremely hot and my stove has no trouble holding coals for my 11 hour burn time. Ash seems to be on the lighter side. Only down fall is sparks bad when reloading stove
Honey Locust, Burns hot and long, doesn't hold coals as good as hedge, but I can just get by with an 11 hour burn time. Ash is also on the lighter side.
Mulberry, burns hot, but burns a little faster than I would like. It is the worst at holding coals, but I like to burn this when I expect my burn times to be less than 8 hours. Seems to leave a lot of ash in the stove.
Burr Oak, burn temperature is the lowest of the 4 species, holds coals better than mulberry, but not as good as hedge or locust. I can get by sometime on an 11 hours burn, but it works best with 8-10 hour burns.
I think the heat content of the Burr Oak would be better if the thick bark was removed. The wood I'm burning now about 10% of the pieces have the bark removed, seems like you can get more solid wood in the stove without that thick bark on it. The locust I'm working with doesn't have thorns or very few if they do so no trouble working with it. I used a hydraulic log splitter and splitting the hedge can take longer because it requires you to run the splitter the full length a lot of the time.